


Petals of Snow

by venusmercury



Series: Infinity with You [2]
Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Anxiety Attacks, Cute Hasegawa Langa, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Enemies, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hasegawa Langa is Bad at Feelings, Idiots in Love, M/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reki is a good guy, Romantic Angst, Romantic Friendship, Romantic Gestures, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, proud reki, reki support group, selfish langa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29277990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venusmercury/pseuds/venusmercury
Summary: It hurt to admit but he could not compare to Adam in any way whether it be skill, interest, or status.He pinched a petal off the flower, running his fingers against the silky surface. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine the snow kissing his cheeks, his eyebrows, and the soft touch of cold lips against his chapped ones.
Relationships: Chinen Miya/Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Kyan Reki/Everyone
Series: Infinity with You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148171
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	Petals of Snow

**Author's Note:**

> I told you Imma milk this out and the story did not even write itself how I wanted. Reki has taken over and I feel like as a character he deserves so much more depth, not that Langa hasn't been through stuff, but Reki feels more relatable. So, I have a good build up going and honestly, I have to hook you guys into the drama because we all wanna see our boys together. Gotta give y'all that angst and build up before we get to the spiciness.  
> So, this is part two and hope y'all enjoy.

_ Two Weeks ago: _

_ His body felt heavy from the night before especially now that a fever had set in. Nurses had been in and out his room all morning, while visitors trickled in. Somewhere around noon, he had dozed off and when he woke up, the white roses had appeared.  _

_ “Shadow, these are beautiful.” He whispered to himself. It wasn’t until he saw the card that he grew angry.  _

_ He had no reason to read it, nor did he need to keep these stupid flowers. They held no significance in his life. In fact, it felt more like a jab to the stomach than a simple curtesy. Roses were Adam’s thing. Reki wasn’t someone who got swept up in the romantics of life. He tried to remain head-steady and practical about how the world worked all while bearing a bright outlook on it all. There was no use in being pessimistic about things that could not be changed.  _

_ Still, something about the flowers unsettled him. Reki had read been doing more reading lately especially with his literature classes since it was almost midterms. He was no expert in the dramatic arts or well-versed in poetry, but flowers often had significant meanings in classical works. _

_ “White roses?”  _

_ Miya frowned at them when he plopped down at the edge of Reki’s bed. He hadn’t even heard the cat boy come in. The young TA nods weakly. _

_ “They arrived this afternoon. I figured Shadow would know what they meant.” _

_ “What was means?” Shadow interrupts as he walks in with another bouquet. _

_ Reki smiles over at him and the arrangement of flowers, though he only recognizes the lilies. _

_ “You’re quite popular at the college. These were a special order from the Dean I think.” He sits them down beside the white roses before looking over the foreign bouquet. _

_ “This isn’t ours.” He frowns, admiring the craftsmanship.  _

_ “What do they mean?” He asks. _

_ “ _ _ Wait, I’m confused. _ _ ” Miya  _ _ interjects _

_ “Flowers have different meanings for specific occasions or in different traditions,” Reki explains, “when studying literature, you have to pay attention to these details especially in setting and the backgrounds of characters too. It goes along with themes.”  _

_ He turns his attention back to the florist who is now prodding at his own bouquet self-consciously. _

_ “White roses have a meaning,  _

_ do they not?” _

_ Shadow glances over his shoulder at the young TA before turning back to examine the flowers.  _

_ “What is the meaning of this?” Reki begged.  _

_ The question doesn’t come unexpectedly. Shadow lifts his head to stare at the ceiling thinking out his response carefully.  _

_ Miya rolls his eyes, “Come on old man, spit it out.” _

_ That earns him a glare before Shadow relents.  _

_ “They have quite a few meanings. I suppose they’re pretty and if I was to send flowers thinking of someone's health, a white rose would be it.” _

_ “No, it would be multiple-colored ones like the you sell.” Miya supplies pointing at the bouquet Shadow brought in. _

_ “Very good. I suppose all that studying is finally wearing off on you,” The older man smiles down at his order, “white roses, commonly read in literature mean purity or in most cases bridal roses.” _

_ “Huh?” Both of the younger skaters say in unison. _

_ “It’s a popular order we get in this business for newlyweds and stuff.” _

_ “So, someone wants to marry me?” _

_ Shadow can’t help but laugh at this. _

_ “I don’t think so. White roses also symbolize remembrance and reverence: having a deep respect for someone. It means youthfulness and eternal life.” _

_ “Like snow.”  _

_ The last sentence is barely audible to anyone, but Shadow catches it. _

_ “Innocence and humility.” Reki adds staring at the petals. They really did remind him of snowflakes. _

_ Shadow looks over to find the young man eying the contents on the stand with no emotion.  _

_ Reki can feel his heart beating so fast, it feels like it might explode. His face heats up as he looks at the roses before him. _

_ Every word swirled in his head making him think of a time when the world used to be so much smaller. When the air was thick with sea salt and the ocean breeze hugged his hair. When his hands, calloused and scarred, met the soft flesh of the stranger who left a gaping hole in his chest.  _

_ Reki feels something hot run down the side of his cheek before he turns away from his friends.  _

_ “Who sent them?” Shadow asks. _

_ Reki shakes his head. Last night, the man who came to visit must have been trying to deliver these. Reki felt his throat tighten just as the heart machine spiked. _

_ “Reki, calm down.” Miya leans over his body and pulls his hands away from his face. The older skater tries to shake him off. It’s all a bit too weird.  _

_ “He was here.” Reki whispers feeling sick. _

White rose petals resembled snowflakes falling up on the  sidewalk . Reki remembered the night Adam had gifted  Langa those red roses. A sign of their budding love.  Langa had accepted them so  easily as if enraptured by the older man from the start. They made quite a handsome pair if he had to admit it. Both distinguished and controlled, yet equally chaotic. Their relationship was like that of the earth and the moo n: Adam’s large gravitation pull kept  Langa close while  Reki remained but a burning sun in the distance. 

It hurt to admit but he could not compare to Adam in any way whether it be skill, interest, or status. 

He  pinched a petal  off the flower,  running his fingers  against the silky surface. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine the snow kissing his cheeks, his eyebrows,  and the soft touch of cold lips against his chapped ones. 

Reki let out a wry laugh before  dropping the  petal to watch it spiral gracefully to the  ground . There was something about this motion that reminded him of the first time he went to S and  saw  Langa skating. The man had skill- something beyond wha t was natural. His pertinacious personality always sought to perfect a trick in one go. He easily picked up on skating as if it was seco nd nature to him. 

Talent like that was far and few to come by. 

Reki stared at the petal o n the ground wishing so badl y it would disappear. No matter how many times he stepped on it, the petal, though torn, remained. He wishes he could say the same about people. Though it had been two weeks since he was released from th e hospital,  Reki had been receiving present every day since then. 

Sitting on the steps leading to the ocean,  Reki plucked the petals one by  one them float away. It was the closest thing he could think of that was like snow. Though petals didn’t melt, they did disappear. It was something he couldn’t keep, no matter how hard he tr ied to. Eventually, the flowers would die. The snow would melt.  Reki would he left with just memories.

On nights like this,  Reki skated past all the places they used to hang out at hoping to catch a glimpse of him. He remembered for the first year after  Langa abandoned him, he would search for the blue-haired  boy. Up and down, day or night,  Reki rode his board in search of something that never happened. Snow seemed to be the illusive substance of a childish fantasy. Yet,  Reki still remembered the first time they met. 

The first real board he made that someone was able to ride. He wondered if  Langa had kept it all this time or if it, like snow, had been pushed to the side and melted down.  He winced at the thought of Adam burning his skateboard while  Langa stood there enjoying the sight. 

Reki let out a deep sigh. 

The bouquet had come with a card attached to it. He hadn’t the time nor energy to read it. Partially because  Reki was scared. He didn’t know what was going on or wh y someone would send him a dozen white roses or German chocolates or why he was the center of attention now, but somehow his name seemed to be everywhere these days.

“You’re popular.” Joe had mentioned earlier tonight as he placed a large helping of pasta in front of  Reki . 

The red head had claimed on e of the smaller booths in the front of the restaurant. His papers were spread out into neat piles as he meticulously went through grading all three of the six classes.

Without glancing up from the question he was marking as wrong, he asks,  “What do you mean?”

Reki misses the slight curve of Joe’s lip as he sets down the prepaid food that the young TA didn’t order.  “There seems to be trouble in paradise.” 

Reki looks up only to find Joe heading back to the kitchen to fill more orders. He stares at the food in front of him. A small post-it note attached the edge of the plate that read,

_ Keep up the good work, Professor.  _

Reki jumps up from his seat and carefully picks up the food. He walks over to the bar trying to speak to Joe who avoids him like food poisoning.  Reki continues to  pester him more about who ordered his favorite special for him and why Joe mentioned trouble .

“Eat it. I made it special too, so just enjoy.” The older skater  demands from the kitchen.

“That idiot never knows when to shut up.” Cherry Blossom say begrudgingly.

“What exactly was he talking about?”  Reki glances at him, almost  pleading for clarity.

Cherry eyes him from over the rim of his glasses before taking a sip of his tea.

“ Go ahead and enjoy the meal. I don’t know much, but l et’s just say a snake has entered the garden and it seems Eve is tempted.”

Reki curses himself for not being more cultured. He can just make out the connections, yet he simply misses the underlying  meaning.

What does a snake and biblical references have to do with skateboarding?

It all seemed a bit too dramatic for him. Maybe that’s why he never really took up a persona for S. To  Reki , he found more making the skateboards and skating for fun rather than all the showiness of it. Maybe that was his downside.

Langa wanted excitement and a thrill. He had once described skating with Adam to be like racing through infinity. It was the ecstasy of never knowing what was to come: a boundless chase of motions and  balance. A euphoria of something far greater than what Reki could describe. No matter how skating made you feel, the licentious actions involved with the races is what he detested.

The art forms were beautiful and Reki could admit that Adam was a highly skilled pro. Yet, his astute way of handling things was a mockery to the sport. He did  value nothing more tha n a thrill and a chase. Langa, well, he might be the same way. It pained Reki to admit that such a good man could  disdain others beneath him. It scared Reki because he didn’t know who Langa was anymore. 

The horrifying truth about snow was that even though it hid the world in a realm of  unyielding beauty, it also hid many perils. The cold was enough to kill a man if one neglected to prepare for the storm that came  with snow.  It held ice and sleet. It could freeze anyone in its wake. It could blind you causing a satisfying torpor that you forgot how dan gerous the conditions were. 

Snow to Reki had always come in the form of shadows and faces and apparently rose petals now. It stole his breath away every time he saw the man skate as if it was the first time. The sheer une quivocal look of concentration and  eloquence was  awesome. Reki felt his heart might explode from the  ethereal grace of watching Snow fall upon Okinawa.

He turned his attention back to the card that laid beside his back. Plucking the last shriveled petal off the stem, Reki held it against his lips before  silently letting it go. It lifted into the air as the warm, spring breeze carried off into the night. He  wondered if he would be chasing Snow forever. Eventually, he would have to give up the hope of ever seeing it again. 

After all, snow would ne ver fall in a place like this. 

Since the rose incident,  Reki hasn’t slept well at all. His dreams are haunted by blue eyes, pale hands, and thin, plush lips that tickled his skin until it burns. A numbness has temporarily set up camp in his chest  making it hard to breath. Reki ignores this feeling as he fights through his days of hectic schedules, meetings, and finishing his degree. He’s on track to replacing the current literature professor who’s set to retire within the year.  Along with that, his sales for skateboards have skyrocketed. Between grade papers and spending hours in the tiny shed at his mother’s house, Reki hasn’t time to think of the gifts that he still  receives . 

Everyday has been something new. Whether it has been delivered lunches to his office to new parts for his boards, and, one time, he had chocolates sent to him after a huge lecture. The  unwanted attention reciprocated into people talking. S was full of people Reki passed on the street. Some of his students were aware of his ties to the place; they never outwardly said anything to him, but he caught bits and pieces of what was happening. 

“They say he’s the only one who’s ever  touched S now ’s board .” One of the kids speaks up  over the thrash of loud music playing from a car two stands down.

“Really! I knew his skateboards were good, but to think a legend still uses  it from years ago. That’s crazy.”

The others nod. Reki doesn’t speak up as he does an emergency tune-up on a girl’s board.

“ Snow will need maintenance on it soon.” She whispers to him. Reki tilts his head  quizzically at these words. He doubts someone like Snow would seek him, of all people, out to fix a skateboard, especially since Adam has state of the art technology at his disposal while Reki still used simple tools. 

“That’s what he has a team for.” Reki reminds her as he helps her on to the board. She gazes at him lazily, holding onto both his hands. She leans into his body as her cheeks reddened.

“Then he’s a very unfortunate guy to miss out on an opportunity like this.”

He shakes his head with a smile before the silence is almost suffocating. The crowd around them seems to still instantly leaving his eyes staring into hers as she looks beyond him in fear. Reki glances over his shoulder just enough to m ake out the tall shadow that haunts this place. He ignores it as he continues to help the girl towards the starting line where the other amate urs are lined up. Before she lets go, she pulls him into her placing a soft kiss onto his lips.

The rest of the night is a blur, but as morning rolls around, he is awoken to the sound of his phone buzzing. Eyes still heavy from sleep, he reaches out for his phone and answers it.

“Hello?” 

“Mr. Kyan?” 

Reki instantly sits up. The voice belongs to one of the men at the doors that guards S. On many occasions, he has offered the dudes on call  food or water especially on hot nights. 

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Please be assured that your ride is waiting for you downstairs. Failure to cooperate will result in someone getting hurt.”

“What do you mean!” Reki snarls into the home. He jumps from his bed, tripping over a shoe as he slams down the window. Below him is a slick black  limousine with a man standing outside of it, waiting attentively. 

“Mr. Kyan, we’ve been requested to be escort you today.”

The numb feeling takes over his body making it feel heavy. He shakes his head trying to stay grounded. 

“Please relax sir.” The man says to him.    
Reki’s right hand begins to shake violently. His shoulder twitches in pain. The whole room feels smaller as he sinks down to the floor. He can feel his breaths shorten. 

Episodes weren’t normal, but it always took him by surprise how easily his anxiety could overtake him. All he can think about is the girl that kissed him. His students who are constantly smi ling or clapping him on the back at S. He can see Miya teasing him about his form as Reki pulls the teen into a hug causing the younger boy to blush violently. He can see Shadow and his beautiful bouquets displayed upon the widow seals of the sho p. He thinks about Joe and Cherry always at each other’s throat, but easily as vulnerable. What if they get hurt because of him? What had he done that amounted to a threat? 

“Please, make it stop!” He screams before seeing his childhood friend’s head hit the pavement with a crack. His skull looks like its split open and his arm is turned at a strange angle. Reki can’t stop seeing the way his face g oes blank with emotions as the tears mix with blood. He sees Adam  _ dancing _ on his skateboard as Snow steps with him until Reki sees nothing but blood. Red stains the white Snow leaving it behind. Leaving hi s body flying into the side of the course until he feels like he’s floating. 

Again, and again, images flash before his eyes and he can’t help but think that maybe it wasn't all Adam. Even though the man knew no mercy, he no particular reason to care about what Reki did. 

_ A snake has entered the garden and it seems Eve is tempted. _

He didn’t want to admit it, but could he be the reason for the strange atmosphere the night before? Had the girl kssing him triggered this trepidation? Could Langa truly be capable of going this far? Was this all a ploy to get inside his head and sike him out, but why? They weren’t even close anymore and hadn’t  spoken in years, yet Langa meracuously showed up at his hospital room. Reki could count on his fingers each gift he has recieved. What did this all mean?

“Mr. Kyan. Mr-”

Reki hung up the phone before throwing it across the room. His heart felt like it was sobbi ng. His eyes burned. There was nothing else he could do except stay away from S all together and keep his distance. If i t meant protecting those he loved, Reki would stop skating all together. 

From this day forward, Reki would stop searching for the Snow that he knew would never come.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, now that you've read it, I hope you notice, I never told you what Langa wrote on the card he sent to Reki at the hospital (That's for part three) and yes, Langa is coming in part three to clear the air and it's gonna get wild.  
> Thank you for reading and comment below anything you'd want me to add or focus on more.


End file.
